In recent years, mobile telecommunication devices have advanced from offering simple voice calling services within wireless communication networks to providing users with many new features. Mobile telecommunication devices now provide messaging services such as email, text messaging, and instant messaging; data services such as internet browsing; media services such as storing and playing a library of favorite songs; location services; and many others. In addition to the new features provided by the mobile telecommunication devices, users of such mobile telecommunication devices have greatly increased. Such an increase in users is only expected to continue and, in fact, it is expected that there could be a growth rate of twenty times more users in the next few years alone.
In general, mobile devices communicate with base stations (or access points that communicate with the base stations) within a wireless communication network. Typically, data services, such as internet-related services, are directed from a base station to an anchor Serving Gateway (SGW). From the anchor SGW, the data is routed to a Packet Data Network (PDN) gateway (PGW) for routing of the data services to a data services provider network, e.g., the Internet. If the data routed to the anchor SGW is for voice services, then the SGW routes the data to a second PGW to route to voice services provider network, e.g., an Internet Protocol Multimedia Core Network Subsystem (IMS). Thus, the anchor SGW essentially serves as a router. Such an arrangement can lead to delays in routing data packets, inefficient routing of data packets and increased costs for data services and voice services to and from UEs due to the use of multiple nodes for the routing of data packets.